It’s Monday, but you don’t have to be totally down in the dumps because Christmas is right around the corner and we’ve got some movie rumors that are sure to brighten up your day.

First up, the world is still reeling from the tragic death of Paul Walker and Universal is stuck with the unenviable task of figuring out how to wrap up Fast & Furious 7 without its star -- but the studio may have found an answer that would not only please fans of the racing franchise, but allow the Walker family to honor Paul’s memory in the process.

The rumor currently making the rounds – started over at the Daily Mail (so take this with a grain of salt) is that Universal has approached Walker’s younger brother Cody to step in and help finish the film. Cody Walker is a stuntman who does bear a resemblance to his older brother (that’s him on the right in the picture above) – and, reportedly, Universal thinks he could work as a stand-in.

The rumor goes on to state that Universal would use CGI to help make Cody look more like Paul in any close-ups – which is both interesting and incredibly creepy. If it does turn out to be true, it seems like a pretty fitting way for Cody to honor his brother’s memory. Now Universal just needs to come up with a fitting way for Walker’s character to exit the series. No decisions have been made on any of this as the production team and Walker’s family are still mourning his passing. [via JoBlo]

In more exciting news, we’ve got some new info about those much discussed Star Wars spin-offs everyone’s been talking about since Disney first got the rights to George Lucas’ empire.

Jedi News has learned that Disney CFO Jay Rasulo told investors recently that the spin-off films will primarily be origin stories for beloved characters in the Star Wars universe and will come out between the main releases in the new trilogy that J.J. Abrams and company are currently making. We basically knew this already.

What we didn’t know for sure – and now seemingly have confirmation on -- is that the first film will debut in 2016 and follow the adventures of a young Han Solo before he became part of the Rebel resistance. If that film is successful, then we’ll see subsequent films focusing on Yoda and Boba Fett.

Now, before we take this as gospel, it should be noted that the original source of the story did not quote Rasulo directly – but it’s hard to imagine him being taken out of context on this and it does match up with speculation about how the spin-offs would be handled. It’s definitely a rumor, but as rumors go, it seems fairly reliable.

The exec also reiterated that while Disney will spend exorbitant amounts of cash on the new trilogy of films, the spin-offs will be made with an eye on the bottom line. This doesn’t mean they’ll be cheap, but you probably shouldn’t expect the same level of polish you’d find on the main entries in the series.

All in all, this is pretty exciting news – and if that 2016 date is going to hold firm, we should start hearing some news about directors and casting sometime in the new year.

What do you think? Are you on board with these sequels? What other characters should get an origin story film? Weigh in below. [via Blastr]

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